Release of the Sex Offender Registration and Monitoring Triennial Review—2024
According to the state of Florida, OPPAGA is a research arm of the Florida Legislature which supports the legislature by providing data, evaluative research, and objective analyses that assist legislative budget and policy deliberations.
In preparations for their 2024 Triennial Review, OPPAGA reached out to Florida Action Committee for input. Two of FAC’s board members participated in a Zoom call on September 24, 2024, with OPPAGA analysts.
The information that was sent by FAC to the OPPAGA representatives before the Zoom interview can be read here. Research was also sent by FAC board members on the ineffectiveness of the registry.
The 2024 OPPAGA Triennial Report has now been published. As you read the report, keep in mind that OPPAGA is supposed to be the research arm for the Florida Legislature: providing evaluative research and objective analyses that assist the legislature in policy deliberations.
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My first post was censored off because it was gibberish. I’m glad it was.
The system is so broken. It’s weighed down throwing everyone in the same boat.
No Due process and retroactive extension. People getting jail for petty paper crimes. Weaponizing the police system. No escape from poverty.
What I really feel about this situation is once justice is served and completed, once you are removed from the registry anywhere in the United States, you are allowed to go back to a normal life. 10 years on the list was enough admonishment, and punishment for myself personally. There hasn’t been a day go by that I don’t wish I could go back in time and talk sense into that younger person.
That my friends is what happens when restorative justice is applied, accepted, and controlled by the courts, and even praise worthy.
Now 29 years later a new sentence is being applied. A life on a bloated list. So bloated, and stale , and it stinks. Putting a narrative of lopsided numbers on paper is the easiest way to convince people of anything.
The truth has been swept under the rug and driven away.
Peace to everyone in their personal quest for justice and freedom.
I’ve been on the registry since the day it went live. I was a kid then. I’m now in my 50’s. Iv seen this disaster piece growing into what it is today. It’s a state sponsored, public doxing, name him and shame him punishment for any offense no matter the severity.. You can created charts and reports till Jesus returns. None of it will make a difference as long as the general public does not care. And new flash folks. They don’t care at all. UNTIL little Jimmy gets popped with something that lands him on the registry. That’s when people wake up and realize. ITS NOTHING BUT PUNISHMENT. and it does not keep anyone safe and costs millions and millions of dollars to operate.
@ over it
I was in my 20s when my crime took place, and now I am 60. How long does one have to carry the burdens of their past? Well in Florida, it seems even death does not take you off the registry. (Unless relatives pay to have the person removed).
The recently released OPPAGA report states that only 30,907 people forced to register out of the over 86,000 people on the registry actually live in Florida, meaning most do NOT reside in Florida. This registry is only creating confusion for the public.
Additionally, Broward’s and Miami-Dade’s percentage of homeless registrants is only growing. “Most sheriffs’ offices…reported that locating and contacting transient ‘offenders’ was challenging and… have remained constant over time. Several sheriffs’ offices stated that contacting homeless offenders was difficult because the offenders moved location frequently.” The OPPAGA report points out how the local ordinances exacerbate this problem.
With the new homeless bill that went to effect on January 1, 2025, according to FOX 35 Orlando, homeless people are having to move from place to place as police keep forcing them out of where they are staying. No one is safer because of any of this.
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/central-floridas-homeless-population-fearful-expanded-law-banning-public-sleeping
The Florida Legislature is supposed to consider the data, research, and analyses brought forth by OPPAGA, but will they?
@Education
In my area the homeless have no choice but to move. Either law enforcement, the city / or county once they get complaints, the officials come out, run them off and throw all their personal items in a large roll off dumpster.
Now I do for sure feel bad for them, but also I had one camp just 20 feet from my house and I had to be one of those bad guys and report because they were setting cooking fires that burned down the entire woods and we had to evacuate. Luckily no one’s home burned down. Also the smell of poo and urine would come in through the vents of our house.
We need more shelters but the officials always state, where will the money come from.
And on a final note, ANY of us could become one of those homeless for one reason or another, especially with our situations. I was lucky to have my parents take me in. Not everyone gets that welcome home or maybe doesn’t even have any relatives nearby or that want to risk taking us in.
Two points that I am frustrated with:
(1) Since the 2021 report, nothing has changed in Florida. If anything, the issues that PFR’s must deal with have worsened.
(2) It seem the legislature takes no guidance from the report, which is presumably done at significant time and expense.
It is ironic that in a “tool” which is supposed to identify potentially dangerous people in the community, you will find more people NOT in the community than actually living here. Never mind the incarcerated ones, but now there are more PFR’s living outside of Florida than within. Plus, if the tool is supposed to point out where the registrants are living, is it helpful that laws cause up to 30% to be homeless in some Florida counties so that the public does NOT know where they are living?
Some highlights that I may point out to my state senator and state representative:
Nowhere do they show that these measures contribute to public safety, prevent re-offending, or prevent sex crimes generally. In fact, they do not appear to make such claims at all!
Nowhere do they estimate the cost to taxpayers for our law enforcement resources to spend their time and resources administering these measures.
The analysis of residence restrictions is a good summary that highlights the constraints that home rule places on the safety of our State.
The report identifies the most common way in which a rehabilitated former offender becomes eligible for registry removal, and its kind of surprising!
. . .
What’s helpful about studies such as this is they give lawmakers an excuse to do things that would otherwise be misunderstood or unpopular. Kudos to OPPAGA for having the diligence to reach out to FAC. And kudos to FAC for helping OPPAGA with their research!
What other group of people in the U.S who are off all sanctions have law enforcement coming to their house, in some instances, more times than when I was on probation. Of course, then I had the probation officer coming, but she was very discreet and never embarrassed me. When deputies come to my door, they speak so loud concerning the compliance rules, that the neighbors on the next block can hear it.
Even if they gradually give us more freedoms, that would be the first on my personal list. As long as we are registering, why tie up law enforcement to check on people who are for the most part in compliance anyway.
The Florida Legislature doesn’t need research to determine what laws best serve the public. They rely on fear, money and political capital.